Musonius Rufus on Possessions

The Ordinary Sacred “We must not admire those who own great possessions, but those who have the strength to do without them. For it is not he who has little, but he who desires more, that is poor. The man who is not in need is not the one who has much, but the one who can go without much.” I sure wish I was that person.

February 27, 2026 · 67 words · Jack Baty

Sontag on types of people

Sontag said she learned that “10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and that 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and that the remaining 80 percent could be moved in either direction Kurn Vonnegut quoting Susan Sontag

February 27, 2026 · 41 words · Jack Baty

Oscar Wilde on mimicry

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” — Oscar Wilde Well that stings a little.

February 1, 2026 · 27 words · Jack Baty

DFW on Technology

’Cause the technology is just gonna get better and better and it’s gonna get easier and easier and more and more convenient and more and more pleasurable to sit alone with images on a screen given to us by people who do not love us but want our money and that’s fine in low doses but if it’s the basic main staple of your diet you’re gonna die. David Foster Wallace

August 18, 2025 · 71 words · Jack Baty

Jim Nielsen on working with multiple computers

I’m not the only one who thinks it’s too much work.

May 19, 2025 · 44 words · Jack Baty

Nick Cave on everyday beauty

The luminous and shocking beauty of the everyday is something I try to remain alert to, if only as an antidote to the chronic cynicism and disenchantment that seems to surround everything, these days. It tells me that, despite how debased or corrupt we are told humanity is and how degraded the world has become, it just keeps on being beautiful. Nick Cave, “Faith, Hope, and Carnage”

May 5, 2025 · 67 words · Jack Baty

Feynman on computers

“There is a computer disease. Anybody who works with computers knows about it. It’s a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you ‘play’ with them!” Richard Feynman, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman”

April 6, 2025 · 42 words · Jack Baty

Nick Brandt on using a digital camera – I hated it

I brought a Hasselblad 60 megapixel medium format digital camera to Africa with me. I took photos side by side with my film camera. The digital camera’s images were sharper. They had more detail in both the shadows and the highlights. The digital camera made photographing very, very easy. And I hated it. … In fact, had I photographed using a digital camera from the beginning, I’m not sure that I would have liked a single photograph that I had ever taken. ...

March 23, 2023 · 117 words · Jack Baty

Doisneau on good pictures

If I knew how to take a good picture, I’d do it all the time Robert Doisneau

July 13, 2021 · 17 words · Jack Baty